


the swell of your palm, pressed, to the swell of mine

by lavenderlotion



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Acceptance, Apologies, Coming Out, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Holding Hands, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 01, Trans Artemis Crock, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29584482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: “Hey beautiful,” Wally called confidently, moving forward to lean against the door to Artemis' room and watch her tie her hair up. She was in civvies, which was kinda distracting since she was wearing a sweater and shorts that were, like, distressingly short for how hot Wally had realized she was.That was a lot of leg!Artemis turned around once her hair was up, but she didn’t look too happy to see him.“Screw off, Wally.”
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Wally West
Comments: 22
Kudos: 34





	the swell of your palm, pressed, to the swell of mine

**Author's Note:**

> this is set after season 1, episode 9!

Wally’s mind was _racing_ as they flew back to the cave. That wasn’t too weird on its own, since his mind was kinda _always_ moving really fast—a Speedster’s curse, he and Barry joked, whenever they thought too fast for anyone but the other to keep up—but it was going _extra_ fast during the flight home. No matter what he tried to think about (or how many times he looked over at M’gann hoping to feel _something),_ his thoughts kept returning to one thing. Person? Girl? 

The point was: no matter how hard he tried to think of something else, he couldn’t stop thinking about _Artemis._

Gah! Why did the universe _hate_ him? They just _had_ to pair them up after losing their memories, huh? Not only that, but the universe had to make her cool. Like, _super_ cool. Wally wasn’t supposed to like her, ‘cause she was replacing Speedy! She’d only been with them for a month, but that meant Speedy _hadn’t_ been with them for _another_ month and that sucked. 

Speedy was awesome. Way more awesome than Artemis, no matter how cool she secretly was. 

That was why he hadn’t warmed up to her, after all. Sure, he didn’t _hate_ her, but her being on the team totally meant that Speedy wouldn’t be on the team, no matter how many times he, Rob and Kaldur assured him they had space for two archers. 

But Artemis... kinda rocked? Wally could remember just how much fun they’d had even if they’d kinda thought they were gonna die, and how his first instinct had been to reach out and take her hand when she was nervous about M’gann reading her thoughts. Plus she was hot! Like,  _ seriously _ hot. Wally had kinda noticed it before, but since he was supposed to detest her presence, he hadn’t really registered that she was, like, a total babe. 

She was hotter than _M’gann._

Wally was startled out of his thoughts when the Bio-Ship landed in the cave. He blinked, like, super quick, and realized he’d been staring at Artemis for the _whole_ flight like a total creep. Uh-oh, that was _not_ good. He could totally get around that if it’d been M’gann that he’d been staring at (since she probably would’ve been busy staring after Superboy) but there was _no_ way that Artemis wouldn’t have noticed. 

So instead of dealing with _that,_ Wally zipped to his room the second the hangar opened. He needed to _breathe,_ and it felt like he couldn’t do that around Artemis, not when he was so deep into freaking out. Wally slowed down once he was safely tucked away in “his” room at the cave, where he went through a quick shower then downed a couple of specially made energy bars so he’d stop feeling like he was gonna keel over (and then a few more, ‘cause he was _seriously_ outta juice). 

By the time he was dressed in civvies—his comfiest and tightest (so what? It wasn’t his fault he was a speedster with an awesome ass!) track pants and one of Uncle Barry’s old hoodies for comfort—he was _still_ thinking about Artemis and the way they’d gotten along so _easily_ in the desert, before they’d had their memories and _acted_ like they didn’t like each other. 

At least, Wally had been acting! He wasn’t _actually_ upset with Artemis, and then he’d kinda... missed her? For the rest of the mission, Wally’d had to pretend he didn’t like her, and that had sucked! There were times when he’d wanted to reach out, or check on her, or just feel the swell of her palm pressed against his palm.

But he hadn’t been able to do any of that. It had really sucked, ‘cause he actually really liked her. Like maybe more than he should. Definitely more than he’d _thought_ he liked her when he was still trying to hate her.

And she was hot! 

Oh god. That was _not_ a line of thinking that Wally needed to go down. Thinking of Artemis as cool and hot was _not_ what he needed right now! What about M’Gann? He could think about M’gann still, right? Wally banged his head against the wall and slammed his eyes shut, trying to think of M’gann. 

Only, thought-M’gann Martian shifted until she looked _a lot_ like Artemis. 

Green was _definitely_ Artemis’ colour. Damn. 

Oh no. Oh no, Artemis was cool and hot and Wally wasn’t able to stop thinking about her. 

Okay, ya know what? No! Wally wasn’t going to hide from this. He was _Kid Flash,_ and he was _not_ scared just because he kinda, sorta, maybe had a _little_ bit of a crush on a girl who he was supposed to hate and who might just possibly hate him too! 

Wally hadn’t ever run from a fight (like... figuratively, anyway) and he wasn’t gonna start now.

But that meant he needed to apologize. He’d been a dick, and he needed to let Artemis know that he was sorry and that he wouldn’t keep acting like that. It wasn’t cool, and the Wall-man was all about being cool! Plus, he needed to do the heroic thing, and the heroic thing was _not_ being mean to the new-girl _just_ ‘cause she was taking the spot of his friend. 

Nope. That wasn’t cool _or_ heroic. 

There and then, forehead pressed against the cool wall of his Cave-bedroom, Wally refused to keep treating her badly _just_ because he missed Speedy, and... maybe he could get the girl at the same time? 

No, Wally _was_ gonna get the girl. Or he was at least gonna _talk_ to Artemis about all their weird tension, ‘cause he totally couldn’t have been the only one who felt it in the desert. He’d been flirting with her and he was _pretty_ sure she’d been flirting with him, too. 

They’d _both_ held hands, after all. 

So he was gonna apologize to her, really honestly, _and_ he was gonna get the girl, but before all of that... he was gonna get _to_ the girl slowly. 

Walking at a regular pace, Wally made his way through the cave. Artemis’ room was down a hall and around a corner from his, and it _killed_ him to walk so slowly when he didn’t _need_ to (need being keeping his secret identity intact, duh), but he needed the time to really make sure this was a good idea. Wally decided that even if he wasn’t gonna get the girl, he needed to apologize for being such an ass. He’d totally treated her super unfairly, which was _not_ cool. 

He took a deep breath when he noticed that her door was open. Oh no. Oh no, that wasn’t part of his plan. He was going to knock and then look all cool with his hands in his pockets, all slouched and reclined and, like, hot! It was going to start things off on a good note! 

Was he going to be able to start things off on a good note if he wasn’t able to slouch, like a badass, against her door frame?

Another deep breath. Wally reminded himself that he was a superhero. He could _do_ this! He was the Wall-man! Kid Flash! He didn’t have anything to fear!

Okay, he totally had things to fear (like Artemis, who was actually super scary) but that didn’t mean he was gonna let fear stop him from doing the right thing and apologizing (and, ya know, getting the girl). 

Yeah! Yeah, nothing would go wrong. 

With one last deep breath, he got to it. 

“Hey beautiful,” Wally called confidently, moving forward to lean against the door to Artemis' room and watch her tie her hair up into a... messy-looking bun thing on the top of her head? She was in civvies, too, which was kinda distracting since she was wearing a sweater and shorts that were, like, distressingly short for how hot Wally had realized she was. 

That was _a lot_ of leg! 

Artemis turned around once her hair was up, but she didn’t look too happy to see him. “Screw off, Wally.”

Which... to be expected, but still—ouch!

“Hey! I just wanna talk,” Wally said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all?

Artemis huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes. Uh, rude? “You sure you don’t just want to creep on me some more?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“Creep on you?” Wally’s voice went, like, _way_ higher than he meant, and he knocked on his chest a little to get it back down. 

Artemis rolled her eyes _again._ “If you were _trying_ to be subtle, spending the _entire_ flight home staring at me wasn’t the best plan.”

Wally gaped. His mouth dropped open and he wordlessly shaped words that didn’t make any noise, because! What! She _knew?_ “You _knew?”_ he asked, pointing at her and then pointing at himself and then making a noise that wasn’t a word because! 

While he’d been pretty sure that she’d been able to tell he was creeping, he didn’t think she was going to call him out on it! 

Artemis hopped onto her bed and drew her legs up under her, crisscross, and snorted. “Wally, of _course_ I knew. You weren’t even trying to be subtle.”

“Oh.” Well, that was awkward. Or maybe a blessing in disguise? Okay, Wally, you could do it! “Uh. I... I wanted to t-talk to you?”

“Really?” Artemis asked, and sounded _so_ skeptical that Wally grimaced. 

That was... understandable. Damn, he’d really messed up, huh?

Wally didn’t answer right away, so Artemis huffed and raised an eyebrow at him. “Hey! I’m being honest here,” he protested, wanting to cross his arms over his chest but keeping them at his sides. 

“And if I don’t want to talk to you?”

“I was your ninja boyfriend! That’s gotta count for something, right?” Wally pointed out. 

He totally wasn’t pouting. Absolutely not. Pouting? Him? Pft! No way. He was just _frowning,_ which was totally mature and manly impressive. Totally! 

And... if he _was_ pouting, it wasn’t like it was his fault. _He_ hadn’t been the one to call himself a “ninja boyfriend” and then act like it hadn’t meant anything. 

Artemis huffed a breath _and rolled her eyes again,_ but she smiled, a teeny-tiny smile, which totally felt like a win. “Fine, you can come in.”

Wally cheered as he zipped into her room, launching himself onto her bed and laughing as he bounced a few times before he got himself settled sitting cross-legged opposite her. Her bed was the same as his—only M’gann and Superboy had really decorated their rooms—which was pretty plain, but had a really nice queen-sized bed. 

Thank you, Wayne money. 

Wally got himself comfortable, sticking his hands in the front pouch of his hoodie to hide the way they were vibrating. He knew that he needed to apologize before he could try getting the girl. He _wanted_ to apologize, too! He just... didn’t know how to start. 

“Now, are you going to tell me what you want? I’m not going to help you hit on M’gann. It’s weird.” 

“What? No way!” Wally rocked back on the bed, unable to hide the brief look of disgust that flashed over his face. Wow, he knew he thought fast which meant he _felt_ things really fast, but damn. He sure got over that infatuation quickly. “No, I don’t want help hitting on M’gann. Kinda the opposite, actually.”

Artemis laughed, and asked, “What was that?” 

“I said kinda the opposite, actually,” Wally muttered under his breath, twining his fingers together under the weight of Artemis’ gaze and doing his best not to start picking at the skin around his nails.

“Okay. Hit me, speedster,” Artemis said with a grin, which was _way_ better than the frown she’d been wearing when he _first_ showed up and made him feel just a little bit better about what he wanted to do. 

“Okay, beautiful. Look, I need to apologize,” Wally said seriously, meeting her gaze. “I was... I was a dick to you. I missed Speedy. We were all friends, ya know? We were supposed to all join the League at the same time, me, Rob, Kaldur and Speedy, I mean. He left, didn’t wanna be put on a kiddy team, but we always wanted him to join.”

Artemis wasn’t saying anything, which was _really_ good ‘cause Wally was struggling to talk. He felt like a loser pouring his heart out, but Artemis deserved an explanation. 

“It felt like you were taking his place. Like... like if you joined the team, it was closing the door for Speedy, er, Red Arrow, I guess, to ever work with us. It felt like losing a friend, and it felt like you were replacing him, ya know?” Wally took a deep breath and finally dropped his eyes, looking down at the bulge his hands made in his hoodie. “It wasn’t your fault. I _know_ it wasn't your fault, but... it’s kinda something I’m sensitive about? Losing friends? And I took that out on you, which was totally unfair.”

“You think?” Artemis’ muttered under her breath, which... yeah _that_ was fair. Totally fair. 

Wally didn’t have anything else to say, so he shrugged his shoulders and threw on the most charming smile he could muster as he looked back up. “I was hoping... maybe we could start over?”

“Seriously?” 

“Yeah, beautiful! We’re supposed to be a team, and I know I’ve been a real shitty teammate, but I’d like to try and change that. I-If you want to change it too, that is. You don’t have to! No pressure. If you wanna keep, like, hating me you can totally do that. I don’t _want_ you to keep hating me, but I get that I sucked.”

Artemis didn’t say anything. Wally figured that was fair, since he’d kinda just dropped a lot on her out of nowhere. She did stare at him, so Wally made sure to stare back. He was the one making the dramatic apology, so it only seemed fair to let Artemis watch him as she processed the emotion bomb he’d just dropped without really meaning to. 

But hey, transparency! 

Eventually, she let out a heavy breath, and Wally finally dropped his eyes down to his lap. 

“Thank you for telling me that,” Artemis told him quietly. “I’m not trying to take anyone’s place. I didn’t even have a _choice,_ not really. But I _do_ want to be a part of this team.”

“I want you to be a part of the team, too! Heck, everyone wants you to be a part of the team—you totally rock!”

Artemis grinned at him. She didn’t say anything, and Wally didn’t say anything either, ‘cause he wasn’t totally sure what he _could_ say. He’d already made a fool of himself by coming in and baring his heart or whatever, and now the ball was in Artemis’ court. Only, Artemis really wasn’t saying anything, and Wally hadn’t ever been very good with awkward silences and this one was feeling _really_ awkward, ‘cause Wally wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say if Artemis wasn’t saying anything. 

“Hey!” Wally said suddenly (and maybe a little too loudly, ‘cause Artemis rocked back, looking a little surprised), “was the whole ninja movie thing true?”

Artemis didn’t say anything for a really long time. Wally watched her look at her hands just like Wally had been doing and wondered what about his questions might have been so hard to answer. 

“It was kind of true?” Artemis whispered.

Wally made a questioning noise but didn’t rush her when she didn’t say anything for a long minute. 

“My Dad _is_ crazy, and, uh... he’s a little overprotective, considering the circumstances,” Artemis muttered, looking up at him for only a quick second before dropping her eyes to her hands in a way that totally wasn’t like her. 

Wally reached out, but tugged his hand back before he could touch her knee. They totally weren’t at casual touch yet, right?

“Circumstances?” Wally asked, worry bleeding into his voice. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah!” Artemis said quickly. She looked up at Wally with a small but sincere smile, so he did his best to relax his tense shoulders. “Yeah, everything is fine, it’s just...”

“Gorgeous, you can tell me anything. I know we got off on the wrong foot, that _I_ got us off to the wrong foot, but I wanna fix that!” Wally threw the most charming smile he could dredge up across his face. He _hated_ secrets, which was pretty ironic considering Robin was his best friend. He didn’t _want_ to keep more, but... he would. 

For Artemis. 

“You have to _promise_ not to tell anyone!” Artemis’ told him, her voice like _steel_ and something burning in her eyes. 

Oh god. Oh god, that was _hot. Seriously_ hot. Was that a thing Wally didn’t know about? That couldn’t be a thing Wally didn’t know about, right? Shit. Shit, _mission abort,_ he thought, quite aggressively, as he focused on breathing and _not_ springing a _very_ inappropriate boner just ‘cause Artemis was all serious and commanding. 

Focus, Wall-man! 

“Hey! I promise. Look, you can trust me. I know a _bunch_ of stuff ‘bout Rob that I haven’t ever told anyone! If you wanna ask him to verify, I don’t even mind.” Wally smiled as reassuringly as he could, and added, “I know I haven’t done a lot to earn your trust.”

“N-No, I... I trust you. It’s just. It’s hard.” Wally’s heart tripped over in his chest at the simple confession, and his smile edged just a little wider even though he was still doing his best to be totally serious. 

Trust! That was a _super_ good sign, right? 

“Alrighty well...” Wally shifted around so he could lay out across the end of Artemis’ bed and threw his arms behind his head, stretching out till he was super comfortable with his legs hanging over the edge and his feet planted on the floor. “I’ve got time, babe-ilicous.”

“Okay,” Artemis said. She hadn’t protested a _single_ nickname, so Wally was actually feeling pretty good about the whole “get the girl” part of his plan! Under her breath, Artemis muttered, “Okay, yeah, I can do this.”

“You can do this!” Wally cheered, and Artemis threw her head back to laugh. 

Oh shit. She was _hot_ hot. 

“God, you’re such a dork,” Artemis said, but it didn’t feel like any of the barbs they’d ever traded before. Nope, Artemis was _teasing_ him. 

Score! 

“A lovable dork,” Wally told her with a wide grin, shooting her a smile before looking up at the ceiling. “Alright, whenever you’re ready.”

He heard her take a deep breath, but he continued to stare up at the smooth walls of the cave’s ceiling. If she needed time, he could be patient. Sure, he wasn’t _normally_ patient, but he kinda got the feeling that Artemis was gonna get him to do a _lot_ of stuff he didn’t normally do, but in, like, a good way. 

“Look... I've never told anyone this before. No one outside my family, at least.” Artemis stopped abruptly. When Wally looked over, she was staring down at her lap, but her face was twisted into a grimace. This time, Wally did reach out, and he squeezed her knee in a way that he hoped was reassuring. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” he said again, quieter, and offered her a grin before pulling his hand away. 

Artemis nodded her head and returned a small smile of her own. She squared her shoulders, and it almost looked like she was getting ready for a fight before she said, “I... I’m transgender.”

Wally gaped at the ceiling before quickly turning his head to take in Artemis. 

Uh, what? Long hair? Check! Gorgeous face? Check! Boobs? Definitely check! Wally was _really_ sure he knew what transgender meant. Dick went through a phase—not, like, a sexuality phase, but a _research_ phase—and when Dick went through research phases, it meant that _Wally_ went through research phases, too, ‘cause Dick liked to info dump the dump out of info all over him. Which meant that _Wally_ totally knew what the T in LGBT meant, but...

He wanted to ask if she was sure. He wanted to ask if she was _lying,_ but Artemis looked freaked the heck out, and—he didn’t know her _that_ well (totally his fault!) but he was pretty sure he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t ever do something like that. 

Wait, did that mean she had a...

No! No, that was _totally_ none of his business. And it didn’t matter! It totally did not matter one bit, no sir. No ma’am? Nah, the Wall-man was down with _all_ walks of life, that was for damn sure. He was a superhero, after all! There wasn’t room for bigotry when you were saving lives, so Wally totally didn’t care that Artemis was transgender. 

Which, actually, he should probably say out loud, ‘cause she was still staring at him like she was expecting a response. 

Shit! 

“That’s aster!” Wally said, a little too loud and a little too high-pitched. He cleared his throat, ‘cause the last thing he needed to do was embarrass himself in front of a hot girl _especially_ after she’d just told him something so important. “I mean, that’s cool!”

“I-It is?” Artemis asked, but by the look on her face and the way her voice kinda shook, Wally figured she was asking a bit more. 

So Wally grinned his most charming grin and sat up. He reached out and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together as he looked into her eyes. With as much sincerity as he was able to dredge up—which was a lot, ‘cause he was being super sincere—he echoed her earlier words back to her, “Yeah, beautiful. Thank you for telling me that.”

Artemis’ cheeks went _pink_ which made something low in Wally’s stomach tumble over itself as his blood started racing alongside his heartbeat. 

“I... you’re welcome?” Artemis asked, like it was a question, like she wasn’t expecting Wally’s response, or his acceptance. He wasn’t really _surprised,_ but it still bothered him to know that there had been people that’d caused Artemis pain, which...

Filled him with a _whole_ set of protective emotions he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. 

Wally decided he could get the girl later. For now, it was probably better that he started getting them towards being friends. He didn’t mind the transgender thing, but he also didn’t wanna try hitting on her right away, in case she thought he was hitting on her _because_ of the transgender thing. He wanted to hit on her before, but she might not realize that, and he _really_ didn’t want to make her uncomfortable after she’d told him something so personal. 

So with a grin that was so wide it made his cheeks ache, he asked, “So... it’s, like, totally weird that Superboy brought home a ball, right?”

Artemis’ laugh was totally the best thing that Wally had ever heard, and as she stretched out her legs and tucked her toes under Wally’s back with a small, sly grin and a blush on her cheeks, her palm pressed against his palm, Wally knew he wanted to hear her laugh for a long, long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://lavender-lotion.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> kudos aren’t the same as getting a comment, not even close. so a comment, as short and sweet or as sprawling and sporadic as you can manage, would be _greatly_ appreciated! don't know what to comment? how about _”this was great!”_ or _“awesome work!”_


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